Clear answers for a more informed conversation.

Free World Investment is a research-led investment initiative focused on making geopolitical, country, supply-chain, revenue, political-alignment, and concentration risks more visible in equity investing. FWI conducts company-level due diligence and brings that additional risk lens into the Free World Efficient Growth strategy.

FWEG is a U.S. equity strategy that combines Running Oak Capital's disciplined Efficient Growth investment process with FWI's additional country-risk research and screening. It seeks long-term growth while reducing unintended exposure to elevated geopolitical and concentration risks. No strategy can eliminate investment risk or guarantee a return.

Running Oak Capital, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. It provides the investment-management foundation, portfolio construction, trading, and ongoing advisory management used in FWEG.

At year-end, Running Oak managed approximately $875 million firm-wide: approximately $845 million on a discretionary basis and an additional $30 million through UMA or model-delivery arrangements, where the platform handles trading and rebalancing. This figure is not FWEG-specific assets and should not be read as investment performance.

Running Oak Capital does business as Free World Investment. FWI provides the additional company-level risk research and screening, while Running Oak provides investment management and implementation. Together, these complementary disciplines form FWEG.

FWI reviews public evidence about where a company operates, how its supply chain is structured, where it earns revenue, its subsidiaries and investments, and how it responds to relevant political and institutional issues. We organize that evidence through three core research lenses: supply-chain risk, geographic-revenue risk, and political-alignment risk. The detailed scoring criteria remain proprietary.

A portfolio can own many securities and still depend heavily on a small number of companies, sectors, markets, technologies, suppliers, or shared risk factors. FWI therefore considers both visible position concentration and less obvious overlapping exposures that may behave similarly during stress.

Sanctions, export controls, tariffs, conflict, regulation, state intervention, and disrupted access to markets or suppliers can affect a company's revenue, costs, operations, valuation, and access to capital. These risks may sit outside traditional financial ratios until an event brings them into view.

No. Research and diversification can help identify and manage certain risks, but they cannot eliminate market losses, company-specific events, geopolitical shocks, or concentration risk. FWEG remains an equity strategy and can lose value.

An SMA is an investment account managed for one client. Unlike owning shares of a pooled mutual fund or ETF, the client generally owns the securities held in the account and can view the holdings and transactions through the custodian. Account terms and available features depend on the advisory and custodial arrangements.

Client assets are held by an independent qualified custodian, not by FWI. Running Oak Capital manages the portfolio under the client's advisory agreement, while the custodian maintains the account, statements, and asset records.

Schwab generally does not charge separately for standard custody services in Running Oak client accounts. However, the custodian or other third parties may charge for certain services or transactions—such as wire transfers, electronic fund transfers, transfer taxes, brokerage services, or other account-specific items. The applicable agreements and current custodian fee schedule control.

Many online trades in U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs may be commission-free at major custodians, but not every transaction or service is necessarily free. Brokerage commissions, regulatory or exchange fees, odd-lot differentials, and other transaction charges may apply in some circumstances. Current charges should be confirmed with the custodian before opening the account.

No.

Eligible IRA and Roth IRA assets may be able to invest through an SMA. Assets in a former employer's 401(k) may generally be eligible for rollover to an IRA, while a current employer plan can be moved only if the plan permits an in-service rollover. Eligibility, tax consequences, custodian support, and plan rules should be confirmed before any transfer.

Those details can change and depend on the account and advisory arrangement. Contact FWI to receive the current strategy materials and to speak with an investment professional. Any decision should be based on the applicable advisory agreement and regulatory disclosures.